1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a holder for supporting items of various shapes and configurations on a generally vertical wall, and more particularly relates to such a holder that is (1) readily removable from its mounting base on the wall; and (2) interchangeable with holding devices of various shapes and configurations for holding a variety of items.
2. Description of the Related Prior Art
Various holding devices are in common use that incorporate: (1) a mounting base that is attached to a generally vertical surface; and (2) a removable holder that is designed to removably attach to or mount in the mounting base for holding one or more particular objects. Typical of these are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,026,016, 5,433,416, 3,915,189, 4,858,869, 5,035,389, and 5,435,511 that illustrate wall-mounted attachment receptacles for hanging a microphone, soap or lotion dispenser, aspiration container, cup, personal products container, and aquatic appliance, respectively. Various of these prior art devices also include locking mechanisms for locking the particular item in its wall-mounted mounting bracket. For instance, the microphone mount uses a spring or biased projection that mates with a cooperating detent. This type of xe2x80x9clockingxe2x80x9d mechanism is not necessarily a locking mechanism, in that the force applied to detach the microphone from its mount is equal to the force required to attach the microphone to its mount.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,389 incorporates an opposed latch mechanism that snaps outwardly to lock the container in place on a wall. Due to the very narrow space between the wall and the container, it is virtually impossible to actuate (compress) the opposed latch mechanism fingers to release the container from its wall mount. U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,511 shows a similar detachment mechanism that, while more accessible for manual detachment, is much more complicated in construction, and also includes two opposing latch mechanisms that must be released simultaneously in order for the removable container to be removed from its wall mounting.
A removable holder comprises a mounting base 10 and item holding device 12. The mounting base 10 is intended to be semi-permanently attached to a vertical wall, and the item holding device 12 is designed to be manually mounted within a tapered dovetail receptacle 24 formed in the mounting base for manual removal from the mounting base when not in use. The item holding device 12 incorporates a male tapered dovetail section 32 for mating into the female dovetail receptacle 24 of the mounting base 10. A locking tab 46 is formed with the mounting base 10 in a manner to be biased outwardly to snap into a locking position against a top surface 40 of the male dovetail section 32 to lock the male dovetail section in place. Pressing on the locking tab 46 pushes it out of the way so that the male dovetail section 32 of the item holding device 12 can be manually removed from the female dovetail angled surfaces 26 of the mounting base 10.
The item holding device comprises a xe2x80x9cUxe2x80x9d-shaped cradle 30 having a series of xe2x80x9cVxe2x80x9d-shaped cradle interior members 56 made of a relatively soft and deformable rubber material so as to readily deform against the weight of an item placed in the cradle member 30, thereby tending to grasp onto the item to help retain the item within the cradle member. The cradle member 30 also includes a resilient rubber locking strap 54 for stretching over and locking against the outside cradle member in order to retain the item placed therein.